NASDAQ:FAT FAT Brands Q1 2025 Earnings Report $2.75 -0.13 (-4.51%) As of 05/9/2025 04:00 PM Eastern Earnings HistoryForecast FAT Brands EPS ResultsActual EPS-$2.73Consensus EPS -$2.40Beat/MissMissed by -$0.33One Year Ago EPSN/AFAT Brands Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$142.02 millionExpected Revenue$148.55 millionBeat/MissMissed by -$6.53 millionYoY Revenue GrowthN/AFAT Brands Announcement DetailsQuarterQ1 2025Date5/8/2025TimeAfter Market ClosesConference Call DateThursday, May 8, 2025Conference Call Time5:30PM ETConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by FAT Brands Q1 2025 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrMay 8, 2025 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 6 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Greetings, and welcome to the FAT Brands Inc. First Quarter twenty twenty five Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. Operator00:00:23At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Kent Keuig, Brands CFO. Please proceed. Speaker 100:00:30Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining the FAT Brands earnings call today. On the call with me today is Andy Wiederhorn, our Chairman of the Board. This afternoon, we released our first quarter twenty twenty five results. Please refer to the earnings release and earnings supplement, both of which are available in the Investors section of the company's website at www.fatbrands.com. Each contain additional details about the first quarter, which closed on 03/30/2025. Speaker 100:01:02Before I begin, I must remind everyone that part of the discussion today will include forward looking statements. These forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and therefore undue reliance should not be placed upon them. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward looking statements due to a number of risks and uncertainties. The company does not undertake to update these forward looking statements at a later date. For a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact future operating results and financial condition, please see today's earnings release and recent SEC filings. Speaker 100:01:40During today's call, the company will also discuss non GAAP financial measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating our performance. The presentation of this additional information should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations to comparable GAAP measures are available in today's earnings release. I'd like to turn the call over now to Andy Wiederhorn, our Chairman of the Board. Speaker 200:02:08Thanks, Ken. Thank you all for joining us today. I'd like to extend my sincere appreciation to our talented team members and franchise partners. Their dedication to FAT Brands has been instrumental in driving our continued progress, and I'm encouraged by what we are accomplishing together. I also wanna take a moment to recognize Rob Rosen and his commitment to FAT Brands. Speaker 200:02:28Rob decided to transition from his co CEO role to a consulting position at FAT Brands focused on the debt capital markets. Taylor Wiederhorn has been appointed co CEO serving alongside Ken Kueck. In addition to serving as chief development officer for the last eight years, Taylor assumed the role of brand CEO for 15 of our concepts in 2023. That combined with his leadership background makes him well equipped to take on this role. As noted last quarter, we began 2025 by spinning off Twin Hospitality Group Inc, which is now listed separately on Nasdaq under the ticker TWMP. Speaker 200:03:03We distributed 5% of Twin Hospitality's class a stock to shareholders, a 50,000,000 dividend, while retaining the remaining shares. This strategic move allows shareholders to invest directly in Twin Peaks growth, improves market transparency, and provides Twin Hospitality with access to additional capital or expansion and to reduce leverage through debt repayments. Following this significant milestone, Joe Hummel decided transition from his position as CEO. We wish him the best as he pursues new opportunities. We have initiated a comprehensive executive search for a new leader who will capitalize on our ambitious development pipeline of over 100 lodges. Speaker 200:03:41Twin Peaks' growth trajectory remains strong. In the meantime, Ken Kuick, CFO of Twin Hospitality Group Inc. Will serve as interim CEO, ensuring continuity and strategic advancement during this transition. Following the Twin Hospitality Group bond refinancing in q four of last year, we committed to raising between 75 and 100,000,000 of equity in 2025 and using 75% of that or 75,000,000 to reduce outstanding debt, at which point Twin Hospitality should be cash flow positive, excluding new corporate store development. While we anticipated securing the first one third of that amount by April, The current volatile market conditions have impacted our near term ability to do so at a reasonable price. Speaker 200:04:24Despite this temporary timing adjustment, we are confident in achieving our full annual equity target raise over the next twelve months. Additionally, per the terms of our November 2024 new twin hospitality indenture, we've temporarily paused FAT's common dividend and started to accrue the FAT Series B preferred dividend pursuant to its terms, at least until we reduce principal on the indenture by the $25,000,000 payment threshold. Additionally, we are now turning our attention to the refinancing of our other three securitization silos, all of which have an anticipated repayment date of July of twenty twenty six. We are focused on bringing FAT, which is a high growth business, into a cash flow positive position over the coming quarters as well as further reducing leverage. We have reduced SG and A by over $5,000,000 a year based upon our 2024 run rate and see further opportunities within the portfolio to reduce costs, which I'll discuss in a few minutes. Speaker 200:05:15We look forward to updating you further on future calls. Like last quarter, following this call, we invite you to listen to the Twin Hospitality Group Q1 earnings call at 6PM Eastern Time. The details are contained within their earnings release also issued this afternoon. Next, let's review our first quarter performance, which Ken will elaborate on shortly. Our total revenue for the quarter was $142,000,000 reflecting a 6.5% decrease from the $152,000,000 reported in the same period last year. Speaker 200:05:44System wide sales were $571,100,000 down 1.8% compared to the previous year's quarter. We also achieved $11,100,000 in adjusted EBITDA compared to $18,200,000 in last year's quarter. Domestic system wide sales outperformed international for the quarter. However, we observed an encouraging rebound in our international locations towards the end of Q1, which gives us confidence moving forward. Across our portfolio, we finished the quarter with strong momentum as same store sales improved across all brands from February to March. Speaker 200:06:14We're excited to build on this positive trajectory as we enter Q2 and progress through the remainder of the year. Our Casual Dining segment delivered particularly strong results with same store sales increasing approximately 1.6%, driven by performance at Buffalo's Cafe and Ponderosa and Bonanza locations. Overall, our growth strategy is based upon three fundamental elements. We are expanding our existing brand presence organically with commitments for over 1,000 new locations already in the pipeline. We are evaluating highly strategic acquisitions that would strengthen and broaden our brand portfolio as well as delever our balance sheet. Speaker 200:06:49And we're enhancing our production capabilities at our Georgia facility, particularly focusing on scaling our cookie dough and dry mix manufacturing operations. Looking at our organic growth, we've maintained strong momentum after successfully opening 92 units throughout 2024. We're accelerating our expansion with a target of over 100 new locations this year. We're also making excellent headway with 23 units opened in just the first quarter, which is an approximate 37% increase from Q1 of twenty twenty four. For Q2, we expect to open an additional 25 units, keeping us firmly on track to achieve our annual expansion goals. Speaker 200:07:26We are particularly encouraged by the momentum in our Twin Peaks new store development pipeline. During the first quarter, Twin Peaks opened two new lodges, including the Smoky Bones conversion in Brandon, Florida and a new lodge in Algonquin, Illinois. Both new lodges are off to strong starts. Based on our 2025 outlook, we expect measured growth across various brands, including Roundtable Pizza, which delivered a modest yet positive point 6% positive same store sales increase in the first quarter. Our digital sales at Roundtable Pizza demonstrate particular strength, climbing 5% sequentially from q four to q one twenty twenty five. Speaker 200:08:00The 2024 digital integration of our Great American Cookies and Marble Slab Creamery has also yielded strong results, particularly via their new app with an increase in sales of 8% and an increase in average check size of 17.6%. Our franchise development pipeline remains robust. We signed agreements for approximately 1,000 additional locations. Based on our projections, these units could generate around $50,000,000 in incremental annual adjusted EBITDA once operational, which would strengthen our balance sheet and reduce our leverage position. This consistent development pipeline not only demonstrates the continued appeal of our brands, but also creates a valuable opportunity for our franchise partners. Speaker 200:08:38Along with our robust development pipeline, we're enhancing the customer experience in our existing stores. We've launched a new remodeling initiative with the goal to refresh 5% of all stores in 2025, increasing to 10% in 2026. Co branding continues to be a large part of our growth strategy. We have successfully launched 10 cobranded and tribranded models to date, demonstrating our commitment to innovate partnerships. In March, we celebrated the debut of our first roundtable pizza and marble slab creamery pairing in Oakland, California. Speaker 200:09:10This location exemplifies our approach to seamless integration where Marble Slab's ice cream creates a perfect complement to round table pizzas offering guests a complete dining experience from the main course to dessert. Building on this momentum, we're accelerating our co branding initiatives throughout 2025. We've already opened a tri branded location featuring Great American Cookies, Marble Slab Creamery, and Pretzel Maker in the Dallas area. We also opened our first co branded Great American Cookies and Marble Slab Creamery in Ohio. Additional cobranding plans for 2025 include several new Fatburger, Buffalo's Express, and Hot Tick on a Stick combinations as well as Fatburger and round table pizza pairings. Speaker 200:09:48These strategic combinations not only enhance the guest experience but also maximize operational efficiency and market presence positioning us for continued growth. International development continues to be a growth driver as well. During the quarter, Fabrador announced a new partnership to open 30 locations across France over the next three years, including five in 2026. Also, more recently, a development agreement was signed with the same established franchise partner to open 10 Buffalo's Cafe fast casual locations in France with the first three units set to open by 2026. All in all, we have exceeded over 100 new stores sold year to date. Speaker 200:10:24We continue to expand into nontraditional venues, recently opening a FAPRUM at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport's American Airlines employee dining hall, the first restaurant franchise in an employee cafeteria at the airport. This strategic location represents a significant growth opportunity that could be replicated across other airports as our burgers and fries are ideal for on the go dining. Our experienced partners for this location will be valuable as we scale this business model. We are also leaning into value. ZOEZ always is offering fan favorite pasta dishes for just three ninety nine plus unlimited freshly baked signature breadsticks when dining in. Speaker 200:11:01A family of four can eat for only $16. At Fatburger, we brought back the much loved baby fat for only $5.99. While these offers are attractive, it's the comprehensive value we deliver that truly makes a difference and resonates with our guests. Throughout our portfolio, we we remain firmly committed to providing exceptional overall value, combining premium quality food with an outstanding guest experience. We're excited to announce that later this year, we'll be launching a portfolio wide guest experience program that will set new industry standards and is specifically designed to cultivate lasting brand loyalty. Speaker 200:11:35We continue to strengthen our balance sheet. In April, we amended our Fazoli securitization, resulting in improved terms that enhance our financial flexibility. The amended terms have extended both the call date and repayment date while relaxing certain covenants, providing us with greater operational flexibility for Fazoli's. The new agreement also permits the sale of corporate owned stores to franchisees, allowing us to refranchise our 57 company owned and operated Fazoli's restaurants. Refranchising Fazoli's coupled with the spin off of Twin Hospitality Group, which includes all Twin Peaks and Smoky Bones locations, will significantly reduce our corporate owned footprint and provide additional overhead savings of approximately $2,500,000 per year. Speaker 200:12:14If we were to act upon this refranchising opportunity, we would retain only about 33 Hot Dog on a Stick corporate locations out of our total portfolio of 2,300 locations or 2,125 locations if Twin Peaks and Smokey Bones are excluded. These strategic moves will return us to an almost 100% franchise business model. Now turning to our growth by acquisition strategy. During 2025, we are committed to unlocking value and reducing our leverage as the cost of capital remains high. We continue to look at highly strategic targets that could help us achieve those goals. Speaker 200:12:49Our Georgia production facility represents one of our key strategic advantages, generating impressive financial performance with $8,800,000 in first quarter sales and $3,100,000 in adjusted EBITDA, resulting in an attractive 35% margin. This second quarter, we expect to execute on a major strategic initiative for our cookie dough manufacturing business, namely a third party contract with a national restaurant entertainment chain. We look forward to building on this momentum and increasing our utilization beyond the current level of 40 to 45% of production capacity. Our near term target is reaching 60 to 70% utilization, which would substantially enhance the facility's market value and operational efficiency. While this asset could eventually help decrease debt through strategic divestiture, our immediate focus is capitalizing on a growth runway ahead. Speaker 200:13:36The manufacturing operation remains in its early growth stage with significant untapped potential to drive shareholder value as we execute upon our strategy. Before concluding, I'd like to share an update on the FAP Brands Foundation. To date, the foundation has awarded 10 grants in 2025 and has received a record amount of grant requests for both the months of March and April. This speaks to the commitment of the board in driving awareness and visibility of the foundation as it looks to grow its impact across FAT Brands communities. The foundation's dedication to giving back to our communities is also amplified by our brand ambassador program, was launched last year. Speaker 200:14:10To date, over 35% of our 800 franchisees are actively involved in the program. In conclusion, SAP Brands is laser focused on two fronts, debt reduction and leveraging our robust pipeline of growth opportunities. The energy across our team signals strong momentum. We remain dedicated to maximizing shareholder value, and we'll continue updating you on our progress. With that, I'd like to hand it over to Ken to discuss our financial highlights from the first quarter of twenty twenty five. Speaker 100:14:37Thanks, Andy. Moving on to our first quarter results, total revenues were $142,000,000 a 6.5% decrease from $152,000,000 in last year's quarter. This was driven by lower same store sales and particularly the closure of Smoky Bones locations for conversion into Twin Peaks lodges, partially offset by revenue generated by our new Twin Peaks lodges. Turning to costs and expenses, general and administrative expense increased to $33,000,000 in the quarter from $30,000,000 in the year ago quarter, primarily due to increased professional fees related to pending litigation. Cost of restaurant and factory revenues decreased to $96,100,000 in the quarter compared to $99,100,000 in the year ago quarter primarily due to lower same store sales, partially offset by wage and food cost inflation. Speaker 100:15:35Advertising expense varies in relation to advertising revenues and decreased to $11,100,000 in the quarter from $12,600,000 in the year ago period. Additionally, we slowed down advertising at Smoky Bones as we continue our strategy of converting locations into Twin Peaks lodges. Total other expense net which consisted primarily of interest expense was $36,000,000 in the quarter compared to $33,400,000 in last year's quarter. Net loss attributable to FAT Brands was $46,000,000 or $2.73 per diluted share compared to a net loss of $38,300,000 or $2.37 per share in the prior year quarter. And on an as adjusted basis, our net loss attributable to Fat Brands was $38,700,000 or $2.32 per diluted share compared to $32,900,000 or $2.05 per diluted share in the prior year quarter. Speaker 100:16:40And lastly, EBITDA for the quarter was $11,100,000 compared to $18,200,000 in the year ago quarter. And with that, operator, please open the line for questions. Operator00:16:52Thank And the first question comes from the line of Alton Stump with Loop Capital Markets. Please proceed. Speaker 300:17:20Thank you. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. As always, Andy and Ken. I just wanted to ask about the Cookie facility. Speaker 300:17:27I think you mentioned, Andy, that you expect in the near term to go from 40%, forty five % that you've been at as far as utilization here over the last couple of quarters to I think 60% to 70%, which is an awfully nice move. A dollar impact, what kind of ballpark impact could that have from efficiency standpoint if you do get to that 60 to 70% utilization range? Speaker 200:17:51Our goal is to increase the unit at that facility from about $15,000,000 a year to $25,000,000 a year. And getting that these contracts in place. If if there's there's multiple initiatives going on, that's just one of them. That won't do it by itself, the one that we're going to announce shortly, but there's a lot of momentum behind that initial initial program, and I think it'll it'll cause the other two or three to drop in place right away. Speaker 300:18:17Great. Thanks for putting those forward. Yeah. Speaker 200:18:19Sure. If we get the the facility up to that level, then, you know, it's probably an asset that could generate $300 plus million in proceeds for debt reduction at some point. Speaker 300:18:30Got it. Got it. Thanks for that color. And then I just wanted to ask, I mean, you guys obviously have almost 20 different concepts. It was clearly a tough quarter for the industry wide. Speaker 300:18:40Obviously, weather was certainly not helpful. There's, of course, a lot of macro news. What's your kind of general sense across your brands from a consumer standpoint? How much value focus do you think that in general that you're gonna have to do with the concepts over the next couple quarters if if the current consumer environment, you know, does not improve? Speaker 200:19:00I mean, the consumer's apprehensive. The consumer confidence level is, you know, is mixed. It's event driven. So, you know, we're seeing we're seeing bubbles of of exuberance, then we're seeing people, you know, pare back in terms of their traffic, and that's, you know, within a brand, not just across brand. So, you know, I think this value as we talk about value and you you've seen QSR brands in the industry sort of abandon their value play, value for us is really different. Speaker 200:19:29It's it's what I said earlier. It's it's creating, you know, great food and a great experience to justify the price because consumers are you know, they've had it with pricing yet. They still want to go out and go into restaurants and, you know, take advantage of the of the great experience. You just have to give them a great experience to justify what they're paying for it. And so I think that's gonna continue for the rest of the year. Speaker 200:19:50I I know there's a lot of brands that are betting on the second half of the year that things are gonna all of a sudden be amazing. We'll have to see. You know, we we are we're trying different initiatives to drive traffic, and we're gonna continue to do that and take advantage of, you know, the fact that we have great products to offer. So people want to come to our brands. We just have to give them value. Speaker 300:20:11Got it. Great. Thank you. And then, you know, just the last thing, and I'll hop back in the queue, Andy. But just, you know, as far as, you know, like, the delay with the first tranche that you are committed to raise, obviously, in the aftermath of the Twin Peaks IPO, I guess, how much long do think that would take? Speaker 300:20:29And is there any deadlines that you sort of have to stick to when it comes to raising that money over the course of the year? Speaker 200:20:35Yeah. Thanks. There's no gun to our head. The reality is that equity markets, you know, for restaurant stocks are and a lot of different industries that those those shades are drawn, windows closed. And so we just gotta wait for it to open up. Speaker 200:20:49I think if we had been able to get the spin off done in the fourth quarter of last year, we would have been able to sort of ride the Trump Euphoria wave in very early in q one. And by the time, you know, we went out and had some on deal roadshow meetings and and confidential discussions, testing the waters types of meetings, you know, everyone loves the concept. Everyone loves what we're doing. People are concerned about the leverage. Of course, the majority of the proceeds pay down the leverage so they're happy with that. Speaker 200:21:17But at the end of the day, they just point to the market and the volatility and say, gotta wait. I'm sitting on my hands until volatility calms down. And I think that, you know, we're fortunate that there's nothing that really happens within the the debt indenture that's, you know, of any real consequence, and so we're just gonna ride it out. Because I think we'll we'll I mean, our our bondholders have been extremely supportive. And as I indicated in our call earlier, we are talking about refinancing the remaining silos from the securitization just so that we're well ahead of the July 26 anticipated repayment date. Speaker 200:21:52And so, you know, we have we have over a year, but, hopefully, we'll get that done, you know, sometime in q two or q three more likely. And that probably includes some modifications to the Twin Peaks deal as well just because the equity raise is taking longer. Speaker 300:22:08Got Great. That is very good to hear and also very helpful. Thanks so much. I'll hop back in the queue. Speaker 200:22:13Thank you. Operator00:22:16The next question comes from the line of Joe Gomes with Noble Capital Markets. Please proceed. Speaker 400:22:23Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. Speaker 200:22:26Hi, Joe. Speaker 400:22:28So just want to make sure I understand this all correctly. So if I look at kind of the three main revenue lines, royalties were pretty flat year over year. The co owned restaurant sales were down about 6.2%. And I'm assuming that's the Smoky Bones that was closed. And then some of the same store sales decline. Speaker 400:22:55And then the factory revenue was off about 7%, not a big, big number, but just still off about 7%. I just want to make sure that if there was anything else besides just the same store sales decline and the absence of the Smoky Bones that is driving those numbers. Speaker 200:23:15You are right that from a revenue and same store sales, have royalties that are consistent. You have the total system sales off because of the Smokey Bones. And that's really also at the operating margin level as well where there's just less restaurant level margin at Smokey Bones, and you've got some source temporarily closed while they're being converted. So both of those things. Now when we talk about the overall Smokey Bones portfolio, we still think about half the locations will get converted into Twin Peaks as quickly as we can. Speaker 200:23:51Within those 30 locations, because there's 60 in total, about 10 of them will be corporate. We've converted two already. We have another one under construction now and a couple more to do over the next twelve months. Then there's about 10 that are clearly franchise markets, and then there's 10 that are in between. They'll either be a franchise or they'll be corporate. Speaker 200:24:09We'll do one or the other. And then there's a bunch that don't qualify as a conversion either because there's a Twin Peaks, you know, too close already or there's some landlord restriction where it doesn't make it feasible. So in those cases, that remaining 30, about 10 of those restaurants will close. Their leases are running out. They're old, there's nothing to do with them. Speaker 200:24:27And then there's about 20 that will stay Smoky Bones and and continue on. And so a couple of those we've closed because they can't they're not gonna be converted, and then we've got the ones that are closed that are in the middle of the conversion process. So that's why the the total sales decline looks a little bit more severe. It's just, you know, we took all of Smokey Bones and recorded all of those sales for the last eighteen months, now we're closing some of the ones that are that are destined to be closed anyway, which is again about nine of them, I think. Speaker 400:24:56Okay, great. Thanks for that. And I don't know if you can kind of give us a ballpark here, if you were to refranchise all of Fazoli's, kind of value does that bring in to the parent fat brands? Speaker 200:25:14Well, I think so. The proceeds from any refranchising will go to pay down debt. The dollar value that we achieve for that is probably somewhere in a in a four to six, you know, times multiple range for those stores. And, you know, you're gonna see something hopefully in the in the 20,000,000 to $25,000,000 range, and we'll see how how that goes in, you know, in this environment. But the other point to that is we you know, we'll continue to get a royalty instead of of profits from the stores, and, it'll save, it'll save 2 and a half to 3 and a half million of overhead. Speaker 300:25:59Okay. Speaker 400:26:02And then, pardon me, one of the things that we had hoped to see here was to see the litigation expenses moderate. It looks like they kind of really went up in the quarter. Was there anything that you can provide us the insight as to what was driving the increase? Speaker 200:26:28I think that we're gonna see the end to a lot of litigation expense here in Q2, all of it coming to an end and look forward to talking more about that when we can. Speaker 400:26:41Okay. That would be great. And then just last for me. I don't know if you can provide us any kind of I know the same store sales were down in the first quarter, but so far here in the second quarter, don't if you could talk about what traffic patterns are looking like or average checks are looking like across the franchises. Speaker 200:27:04Yeah, mean, you're seeing I mean, you are seeing differences by segment in terms of, like, burgers versus wings versus snacks. We're seeing very modest decline in in sales and traffic for the cookies and ice cream and and pretzels and stuff like that. You're seeing it in more standard, you know, industry level declines for burgers and some of the wings brands, but you're also seeing, you know, pizza do pretty well. And so we're we're pleased to see how how well pizza's held up and and continuing. I mean, it's it's for most of the time either flat or slightly positive or slightly negative, but it's it's done really well as well as the snacks. Speaker 400:27:49Great. Thanks. I'll get back in queue. Speaker 200:27:52Thank you, Joe. Operator00:27:56The next question comes from the line of Roger Lipton with Lipton Financial Services. Please proceed. Speaker 500:28:01Yes, hi Andy, hi Ken. Thanks for taking my question. Most of the items I wanted to touch on, hold this up, my other phone rang, have been referred to already. But I wanted to ask you, can you give us an estimate of the year to year Smoky Bones negative impact in the quarter? Trying to reconcile the decline in year to year adjusted EBITDA. Speaker 500:28:31My suspicion is that Smoky Bones did more poorly this year than last. Is there any estimate you can provide? Speaker 200:28:41Yeah, mean it's a couple million dollars, you know, a couple million dollars a quarter. It it's a lot. Speaker 500:28:48Right. Okay. Speaker 300:28:51I mean, Speaker 200:28:51you have you have depreciation. You have actual operating decline, so you have both of things to, you know, run through whichever you're you're looking at. And so the faster we can convert, the source we're going to convert the better and we're very focused on that. Speaker 500:29:03Right. Yeah. No doubt. Speaker 200:29:07Just in the overall scheme of things, when you have rates remaining as high as they are and you have construction costs up as much as they are and then you have tariffs that you're importing equipment that might be affected by tariffs and what have you. You just end up having development slow down a little bit. It's not going away, but it slows down a little bit. And so, you know, you can your franchisees are your partners. You want them to to build new stores at an efficient price and and program, but, you know, either apprehensive, they're, you know, dragging their feet a little bit to make sure they could get a better price on this or a better price on that or, you know and then some regions, you've got, you know, construction where it's hard to find the right contractor that's available because he's busy on something else. Speaker 200:29:53And, you know, just all that stuff's going on, I think I think it's making new store development just go a little bit slower than we would like but it's understandable and it's not that it's not gonna happen, it's just taking a little longer. Speaker 500:30:05Right, understood. And do you have any idea how long it's gonna take to find a new full time CEO to take the place with Joe Hummel? How is that going? Speaker 200:30:16Yeah, executive search is going very well. We have a number of excellent candidates and I don't think it'll take very long. Okay. And lastly Certainly within this quarter. Okay. Speaker 500:30:30That'll be productive. In in the supplemental material, talk about one of the one you show as one of your priorities, dollars 10,000,000 of additional adjusted EBITDA from new stores and $5,000,000 from the factory. What kind of timeframe are you thinking about in terms of that incremental 15,000,000 of adjusted EBITDA? A year, two years? I mean, you don't specify the timetable? Speaker 200:30:59Well, there are I think over the next couple years is more than reasonable for both of those things. Yeah, because we have so many new stores opening and we have this incremental growth at the factory, you know, over the next twenty four months for sure, that'll that'll show up. Speaker 500:31:13Okay. Alright. That's it. That's that's helpful. Thanks very much. Speaker 200:31:16You bet. Thank you. Operator00:31:20Thank you. This concludes the question and answer session. And I would like to turn the call back over to Andy Wiederhorn for closing remarks. Speaker 200:31:27Great. Thank you, everyone. I'd love to direct your attention to the Twin Peaks earnings call that is going on as we speak. Just started a couple minutes ago, and that contact information is in the earnings release for Twin Peaks. Operator, this concludes today's call. Operator00:31:45Thank you. This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.Read morePowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallFAT Brands Q1 202500:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2x Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) FAT Brands Earnings HeadlinesFAT Brands Inc. (FAT) Q1 2025 Earnings Call TranscriptMay 9 at 8:06 PM | seekingalpha.comFAT Brands to Announce First Quarter 2025 Financial Results On May 8, 2025May 7 at 12:00 PM | globenewswire.comTrump’s Bitcoin Reserve is No Accident…Remember when they said crypto would never go mainstream? Well, something remarkable has happened… BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, is now buying Bitcoin through ETFs. Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, and Citadel have joined them. We have the most pro-crypto administration in history. And the regulatory barriers are finally falling. May 10, 2025 | Crypto 101 Media (Ad)Fazoli's Fills Menu with New Flavorful Ravioli Dishes Starting at $5.99May 6, 2025 | globenewswire.comFAT Brands Announces Appointment of Taylor Wiederhorn as Co-CEOApril 29, 2025 | globenewswire.comPretzelmaker® Adds New Location in OklahomaApril 28, 2025 | globenewswire.comSee More FAT Brands Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like FAT Brands? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on FAT Brands and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About FAT BrandsFAT Brands (NASDAQ:FAT), a multi-brand restaurant franchising company, acquires, develops, markets, and manages quick service, fast casual, casual dining, and polished casual dining restaurant concepts worldwide. It owns restaurant brands, including Round Table Pizza, Marble Slab Creamery, Great American Cookies, Hot Dog on a Stick, Pretzelmaker, Fazoli's, Fatburger, Johnny Rockets, Elevation Burger, Yalla Mediterranean, Buffalo's Cafe and Buffalo's Express, Hurricane Grill & Wings, Ponderosa Steakhouse/Bonanza Steakhouse, Native Grill & Wings, Smokey Bones, and Twin Peaks. The company was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. 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There are 6 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Greetings, and welcome to the FAT Brands Inc. First Quarter twenty twenty five Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. Operator00:00:23At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Kent Keuig, Brands CFO. Please proceed. Speaker 100:00:30Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining the FAT Brands earnings call today. On the call with me today is Andy Wiederhorn, our Chairman of the Board. This afternoon, we released our first quarter twenty twenty five results. Please refer to the earnings release and earnings supplement, both of which are available in the Investors section of the company's website at www.fatbrands.com. Each contain additional details about the first quarter, which closed on 03/30/2025. Speaker 100:01:02Before I begin, I must remind everyone that part of the discussion today will include forward looking statements. These forward looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and therefore undue reliance should not be placed upon them. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward looking statements due to a number of risks and uncertainties. The company does not undertake to update these forward looking statements at a later date. For a more detailed discussion of the risks that could impact future operating results and financial condition, please see today's earnings release and recent SEC filings. Speaker 100:01:40During today's call, the company will also discuss non GAAP financial measures, which we believe can be useful in evaluating our performance. The presentation of this additional information should not be considered in isolation nor as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations to comparable GAAP measures are available in today's earnings release. I'd like to turn the call over now to Andy Wiederhorn, our Chairman of the Board. Speaker 200:02:08Thanks, Ken. Thank you all for joining us today. I'd like to extend my sincere appreciation to our talented team members and franchise partners. Their dedication to FAT Brands has been instrumental in driving our continued progress, and I'm encouraged by what we are accomplishing together. I also wanna take a moment to recognize Rob Rosen and his commitment to FAT Brands. Speaker 200:02:28Rob decided to transition from his co CEO role to a consulting position at FAT Brands focused on the debt capital markets. Taylor Wiederhorn has been appointed co CEO serving alongside Ken Kueck. In addition to serving as chief development officer for the last eight years, Taylor assumed the role of brand CEO for 15 of our concepts in 2023. That combined with his leadership background makes him well equipped to take on this role. As noted last quarter, we began 2025 by spinning off Twin Hospitality Group Inc, which is now listed separately on Nasdaq under the ticker TWMP. Speaker 200:03:03We distributed 5% of Twin Hospitality's class a stock to shareholders, a 50,000,000 dividend, while retaining the remaining shares. This strategic move allows shareholders to invest directly in Twin Peaks growth, improves market transparency, and provides Twin Hospitality with access to additional capital or expansion and to reduce leverage through debt repayments. Following this significant milestone, Joe Hummel decided transition from his position as CEO. We wish him the best as he pursues new opportunities. We have initiated a comprehensive executive search for a new leader who will capitalize on our ambitious development pipeline of over 100 lodges. Speaker 200:03:41Twin Peaks' growth trajectory remains strong. In the meantime, Ken Kuick, CFO of Twin Hospitality Group Inc. Will serve as interim CEO, ensuring continuity and strategic advancement during this transition. Following the Twin Hospitality Group bond refinancing in q four of last year, we committed to raising between 75 and 100,000,000 of equity in 2025 and using 75% of that or 75,000,000 to reduce outstanding debt, at which point Twin Hospitality should be cash flow positive, excluding new corporate store development. While we anticipated securing the first one third of that amount by April, The current volatile market conditions have impacted our near term ability to do so at a reasonable price. Speaker 200:04:24Despite this temporary timing adjustment, we are confident in achieving our full annual equity target raise over the next twelve months. Additionally, per the terms of our November 2024 new twin hospitality indenture, we've temporarily paused FAT's common dividend and started to accrue the FAT Series B preferred dividend pursuant to its terms, at least until we reduce principal on the indenture by the $25,000,000 payment threshold. Additionally, we are now turning our attention to the refinancing of our other three securitization silos, all of which have an anticipated repayment date of July of twenty twenty six. We are focused on bringing FAT, which is a high growth business, into a cash flow positive position over the coming quarters as well as further reducing leverage. We have reduced SG and A by over $5,000,000 a year based upon our 2024 run rate and see further opportunities within the portfolio to reduce costs, which I'll discuss in a few minutes. Speaker 200:05:15We look forward to updating you further on future calls. Like last quarter, following this call, we invite you to listen to the Twin Hospitality Group Q1 earnings call at 6PM Eastern Time. The details are contained within their earnings release also issued this afternoon. Next, let's review our first quarter performance, which Ken will elaborate on shortly. Our total revenue for the quarter was $142,000,000 reflecting a 6.5% decrease from the $152,000,000 reported in the same period last year. Speaker 200:05:44System wide sales were $571,100,000 down 1.8% compared to the previous year's quarter. We also achieved $11,100,000 in adjusted EBITDA compared to $18,200,000 in last year's quarter. Domestic system wide sales outperformed international for the quarter. However, we observed an encouraging rebound in our international locations towards the end of Q1, which gives us confidence moving forward. Across our portfolio, we finished the quarter with strong momentum as same store sales improved across all brands from February to March. Speaker 200:06:14We're excited to build on this positive trajectory as we enter Q2 and progress through the remainder of the year. Our Casual Dining segment delivered particularly strong results with same store sales increasing approximately 1.6%, driven by performance at Buffalo's Cafe and Ponderosa and Bonanza locations. Overall, our growth strategy is based upon three fundamental elements. We are expanding our existing brand presence organically with commitments for over 1,000 new locations already in the pipeline. We are evaluating highly strategic acquisitions that would strengthen and broaden our brand portfolio as well as delever our balance sheet. Speaker 200:06:49And we're enhancing our production capabilities at our Georgia facility, particularly focusing on scaling our cookie dough and dry mix manufacturing operations. Looking at our organic growth, we've maintained strong momentum after successfully opening 92 units throughout 2024. We're accelerating our expansion with a target of over 100 new locations this year. We're also making excellent headway with 23 units opened in just the first quarter, which is an approximate 37% increase from Q1 of twenty twenty four. For Q2, we expect to open an additional 25 units, keeping us firmly on track to achieve our annual expansion goals. Speaker 200:07:26We are particularly encouraged by the momentum in our Twin Peaks new store development pipeline. During the first quarter, Twin Peaks opened two new lodges, including the Smoky Bones conversion in Brandon, Florida and a new lodge in Algonquin, Illinois. Both new lodges are off to strong starts. Based on our 2025 outlook, we expect measured growth across various brands, including Roundtable Pizza, which delivered a modest yet positive point 6% positive same store sales increase in the first quarter. Our digital sales at Roundtable Pizza demonstrate particular strength, climbing 5% sequentially from q four to q one twenty twenty five. Speaker 200:08:00The 2024 digital integration of our Great American Cookies and Marble Slab Creamery has also yielded strong results, particularly via their new app with an increase in sales of 8% and an increase in average check size of 17.6%. Our franchise development pipeline remains robust. We signed agreements for approximately 1,000 additional locations. Based on our projections, these units could generate around $50,000,000 in incremental annual adjusted EBITDA once operational, which would strengthen our balance sheet and reduce our leverage position. This consistent development pipeline not only demonstrates the continued appeal of our brands, but also creates a valuable opportunity for our franchise partners. Speaker 200:08:38Along with our robust development pipeline, we're enhancing the customer experience in our existing stores. We've launched a new remodeling initiative with the goal to refresh 5% of all stores in 2025, increasing to 10% in 2026. Co branding continues to be a large part of our growth strategy. We have successfully launched 10 cobranded and tribranded models to date, demonstrating our commitment to innovate partnerships. In March, we celebrated the debut of our first roundtable pizza and marble slab creamery pairing in Oakland, California. Speaker 200:09:10This location exemplifies our approach to seamless integration where Marble Slab's ice cream creates a perfect complement to round table pizzas offering guests a complete dining experience from the main course to dessert. Building on this momentum, we're accelerating our co branding initiatives throughout 2025. We've already opened a tri branded location featuring Great American Cookies, Marble Slab Creamery, and Pretzel Maker in the Dallas area. We also opened our first co branded Great American Cookies and Marble Slab Creamery in Ohio. Additional cobranding plans for 2025 include several new Fatburger, Buffalo's Express, and Hot Tick on a Stick combinations as well as Fatburger and round table pizza pairings. Speaker 200:09:48These strategic combinations not only enhance the guest experience but also maximize operational efficiency and market presence positioning us for continued growth. International development continues to be a growth driver as well. During the quarter, Fabrador announced a new partnership to open 30 locations across France over the next three years, including five in 2026. Also, more recently, a development agreement was signed with the same established franchise partner to open 10 Buffalo's Cafe fast casual locations in France with the first three units set to open by 2026. All in all, we have exceeded over 100 new stores sold year to date. Speaker 200:10:24We continue to expand into nontraditional venues, recently opening a FAPRUM at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport's American Airlines employee dining hall, the first restaurant franchise in an employee cafeteria at the airport. This strategic location represents a significant growth opportunity that could be replicated across other airports as our burgers and fries are ideal for on the go dining. Our experienced partners for this location will be valuable as we scale this business model. We are also leaning into value. ZOEZ always is offering fan favorite pasta dishes for just three ninety nine plus unlimited freshly baked signature breadsticks when dining in. Speaker 200:11:01A family of four can eat for only $16. At Fatburger, we brought back the much loved baby fat for only $5.99. While these offers are attractive, it's the comprehensive value we deliver that truly makes a difference and resonates with our guests. Throughout our portfolio, we we remain firmly committed to providing exceptional overall value, combining premium quality food with an outstanding guest experience. We're excited to announce that later this year, we'll be launching a portfolio wide guest experience program that will set new industry standards and is specifically designed to cultivate lasting brand loyalty. Speaker 200:11:35We continue to strengthen our balance sheet. In April, we amended our Fazoli securitization, resulting in improved terms that enhance our financial flexibility. The amended terms have extended both the call date and repayment date while relaxing certain covenants, providing us with greater operational flexibility for Fazoli's. The new agreement also permits the sale of corporate owned stores to franchisees, allowing us to refranchise our 57 company owned and operated Fazoli's restaurants. Refranchising Fazoli's coupled with the spin off of Twin Hospitality Group, which includes all Twin Peaks and Smoky Bones locations, will significantly reduce our corporate owned footprint and provide additional overhead savings of approximately $2,500,000 per year. Speaker 200:12:14If we were to act upon this refranchising opportunity, we would retain only about 33 Hot Dog on a Stick corporate locations out of our total portfolio of 2,300 locations or 2,125 locations if Twin Peaks and Smokey Bones are excluded. These strategic moves will return us to an almost 100% franchise business model. Now turning to our growth by acquisition strategy. During 2025, we are committed to unlocking value and reducing our leverage as the cost of capital remains high. We continue to look at highly strategic targets that could help us achieve those goals. Speaker 200:12:49Our Georgia production facility represents one of our key strategic advantages, generating impressive financial performance with $8,800,000 in first quarter sales and $3,100,000 in adjusted EBITDA, resulting in an attractive 35% margin. This second quarter, we expect to execute on a major strategic initiative for our cookie dough manufacturing business, namely a third party contract with a national restaurant entertainment chain. We look forward to building on this momentum and increasing our utilization beyond the current level of 40 to 45% of production capacity. Our near term target is reaching 60 to 70% utilization, which would substantially enhance the facility's market value and operational efficiency. While this asset could eventually help decrease debt through strategic divestiture, our immediate focus is capitalizing on a growth runway ahead. Speaker 200:13:36The manufacturing operation remains in its early growth stage with significant untapped potential to drive shareholder value as we execute upon our strategy. Before concluding, I'd like to share an update on the FAP Brands Foundation. To date, the foundation has awarded 10 grants in 2025 and has received a record amount of grant requests for both the months of March and April. This speaks to the commitment of the board in driving awareness and visibility of the foundation as it looks to grow its impact across FAT Brands communities. The foundation's dedication to giving back to our communities is also amplified by our brand ambassador program, was launched last year. Speaker 200:14:10To date, over 35% of our 800 franchisees are actively involved in the program. In conclusion, SAP Brands is laser focused on two fronts, debt reduction and leveraging our robust pipeline of growth opportunities. The energy across our team signals strong momentum. We remain dedicated to maximizing shareholder value, and we'll continue updating you on our progress. With that, I'd like to hand it over to Ken to discuss our financial highlights from the first quarter of twenty twenty five. Speaker 100:14:37Thanks, Andy. Moving on to our first quarter results, total revenues were $142,000,000 a 6.5% decrease from $152,000,000 in last year's quarter. This was driven by lower same store sales and particularly the closure of Smoky Bones locations for conversion into Twin Peaks lodges, partially offset by revenue generated by our new Twin Peaks lodges. Turning to costs and expenses, general and administrative expense increased to $33,000,000 in the quarter from $30,000,000 in the year ago quarter, primarily due to increased professional fees related to pending litigation. Cost of restaurant and factory revenues decreased to $96,100,000 in the quarter compared to $99,100,000 in the year ago quarter primarily due to lower same store sales, partially offset by wage and food cost inflation. Speaker 100:15:35Advertising expense varies in relation to advertising revenues and decreased to $11,100,000 in the quarter from $12,600,000 in the year ago period. Additionally, we slowed down advertising at Smoky Bones as we continue our strategy of converting locations into Twin Peaks lodges. Total other expense net which consisted primarily of interest expense was $36,000,000 in the quarter compared to $33,400,000 in last year's quarter. Net loss attributable to FAT Brands was $46,000,000 or $2.73 per diluted share compared to a net loss of $38,300,000 or $2.37 per share in the prior year quarter. And on an as adjusted basis, our net loss attributable to Fat Brands was $38,700,000 or $2.32 per diluted share compared to $32,900,000 or $2.05 per diluted share in the prior year quarter. Speaker 100:16:40And lastly, EBITDA for the quarter was $11,100,000 compared to $18,200,000 in the year ago quarter. And with that, operator, please open the line for questions. Operator00:16:52Thank And the first question comes from the line of Alton Stump with Loop Capital Markets. Please proceed. Speaker 300:17:20Thank you. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. As always, Andy and Ken. I just wanted to ask about the Cookie facility. Speaker 300:17:27I think you mentioned, Andy, that you expect in the near term to go from 40%, forty five % that you've been at as far as utilization here over the last couple of quarters to I think 60% to 70%, which is an awfully nice move. A dollar impact, what kind of ballpark impact could that have from efficiency standpoint if you do get to that 60 to 70% utilization range? Speaker 200:17:51Our goal is to increase the unit at that facility from about $15,000,000 a year to $25,000,000 a year. And getting that these contracts in place. If if there's there's multiple initiatives going on, that's just one of them. That won't do it by itself, the one that we're going to announce shortly, but there's a lot of momentum behind that initial initial program, and I think it'll it'll cause the other two or three to drop in place right away. Speaker 300:18:17Great. Thanks for putting those forward. Yeah. Speaker 200:18:19Sure. If we get the the facility up to that level, then, you know, it's probably an asset that could generate $300 plus million in proceeds for debt reduction at some point. Speaker 300:18:30Got it. Got it. Thanks for that color. And then I just wanted to ask, I mean, you guys obviously have almost 20 different concepts. It was clearly a tough quarter for the industry wide. Speaker 300:18:40Obviously, weather was certainly not helpful. There's, of course, a lot of macro news. What's your kind of general sense across your brands from a consumer standpoint? How much value focus do you think that in general that you're gonna have to do with the concepts over the next couple quarters if if the current consumer environment, you know, does not improve? Speaker 200:19:00I mean, the consumer's apprehensive. The consumer confidence level is, you know, is mixed. It's event driven. So, you know, we're seeing we're seeing bubbles of of exuberance, then we're seeing people, you know, pare back in terms of their traffic, and that's, you know, within a brand, not just across brand. So, you know, I think this value as we talk about value and you you've seen QSR brands in the industry sort of abandon their value play, value for us is really different. Speaker 200:19:29It's it's what I said earlier. It's it's creating, you know, great food and a great experience to justify the price because consumers are you know, they've had it with pricing yet. They still want to go out and go into restaurants and, you know, take advantage of the of the great experience. You just have to give them a great experience to justify what they're paying for it. And so I think that's gonna continue for the rest of the year. Speaker 200:19:50I I know there's a lot of brands that are betting on the second half of the year that things are gonna all of a sudden be amazing. We'll have to see. You know, we we are we're trying different initiatives to drive traffic, and we're gonna continue to do that and take advantage of, you know, the fact that we have great products to offer. So people want to come to our brands. We just have to give them value. Speaker 300:20:11Got it. Great. Thank you. And then, you know, just the last thing, and I'll hop back in the queue, Andy. But just, you know, as far as, you know, like, the delay with the first tranche that you are committed to raise, obviously, in the aftermath of the Twin Peaks IPO, I guess, how much long do think that would take? Speaker 300:20:29And is there any deadlines that you sort of have to stick to when it comes to raising that money over the course of the year? Speaker 200:20:35Yeah. Thanks. There's no gun to our head. The reality is that equity markets, you know, for restaurant stocks are and a lot of different industries that those those shades are drawn, windows closed. And so we just gotta wait for it to open up. Speaker 200:20:49I think if we had been able to get the spin off done in the fourth quarter of last year, we would have been able to sort of ride the Trump Euphoria wave in very early in q one. And by the time, you know, we went out and had some on deal roadshow meetings and and confidential discussions, testing the waters types of meetings, you know, everyone loves the concept. Everyone loves what we're doing. People are concerned about the leverage. Of course, the majority of the proceeds pay down the leverage so they're happy with that. Speaker 200:21:17But at the end of the day, they just point to the market and the volatility and say, gotta wait. I'm sitting on my hands until volatility calms down. And I think that, you know, we're fortunate that there's nothing that really happens within the the debt indenture that's, you know, of any real consequence, and so we're just gonna ride it out. Because I think we'll we'll I mean, our our bondholders have been extremely supportive. And as I indicated in our call earlier, we are talking about refinancing the remaining silos from the securitization just so that we're well ahead of the July 26 anticipated repayment date. Speaker 200:21:52And so, you know, we have we have over a year, but, hopefully, we'll get that done, you know, sometime in q two or q three more likely. And that probably includes some modifications to the Twin Peaks deal as well just because the equity raise is taking longer. Speaker 300:22:08Got Great. That is very good to hear and also very helpful. Thanks so much. I'll hop back in the queue. Speaker 200:22:13Thank you. Operator00:22:16The next question comes from the line of Joe Gomes with Noble Capital Markets. Please proceed. Speaker 400:22:23Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. Speaker 200:22:26Hi, Joe. Speaker 400:22:28So just want to make sure I understand this all correctly. So if I look at kind of the three main revenue lines, royalties were pretty flat year over year. The co owned restaurant sales were down about 6.2%. And I'm assuming that's the Smoky Bones that was closed. And then some of the same store sales decline. Speaker 400:22:55And then the factory revenue was off about 7%, not a big, big number, but just still off about 7%. I just want to make sure that if there was anything else besides just the same store sales decline and the absence of the Smoky Bones that is driving those numbers. Speaker 200:23:15You are right that from a revenue and same store sales, have royalties that are consistent. You have the total system sales off because of the Smokey Bones. And that's really also at the operating margin level as well where there's just less restaurant level margin at Smokey Bones, and you've got some source temporarily closed while they're being converted. So both of those things. Now when we talk about the overall Smokey Bones portfolio, we still think about half the locations will get converted into Twin Peaks as quickly as we can. Speaker 200:23:51Within those 30 locations, because there's 60 in total, about 10 of them will be corporate. We've converted two already. We have another one under construction now and a couple more to do over the next twelve months. Then there's about 10 that are clearly franchise markets, and then there's 10 that are in between. They'll either be a franchise or they'll be corporate. Speaker 200:24:09We'll do one or the other. And then there's a bunch that don't qualify as a conversion either because there's a Twin Peaks, you know, too close already or there's some landlord restriction where it doesn't make it feasible. So in those cases, that remaining 30, about 10 of those restaurants will close. Their leases are running out. They're old, there's nothing to do with them. Speaker 200:24:27And then there's about 20 that will stay Smoky Bones and and continue on. And so a couple of those we've closed because they can't they're not gonna be converted, and then we've got the ones that are closed that are in the middle of the conversion process. So that's why the the total sales decline looks a little bit more severe. It's just, you know, we took all of Smokey Bones and recorded all of those sales for the last eighteen months, now we're closing some of the ones that are that are destined to be closed anyway, which is again about nine of them, I think. Speaker 400:24:56Okay, great. Thanks for that. And I don't know if you can kind of give us a ballpark here, if you were to refranchise all of Fazoli's, kind of value does that bring in to the parent fat brands? Speaker 200:25:14Well, I think so. The proceeds from any refranchising will go to pay down debt. The dollar value that we achieve for that is probably somewhere in a in a four to six, you know, times multiple range for those stores. And, you know, you're gonna see something hopefully in the in the 20,000,000 to $25,000,000 range, and we'll see how how that goes in, you know, in this environment. But the other point to that is we you know, we'll continue to get a royalty instead of of profits from the stores, and, it'll save, it'll save 2 and a half to 3 and a half million of overhead. Speaker 300:25:59Okay. Speaker 400:26:02And then, pardon me, one of the things that we had hoped to see here was to see the litigation expenses moderate. It looks like they kind of really went up in the quarter. Was there anything that you can provide us the insight as to what was driving the increase? Speaker 200:26:28I think that we're gonna see the end to a lot of litigation expense here in Q2, all of it coming to an end and look forward to talking more about that when we can. Speaker 400:26:41Okay. That would be great. And then just last for me. I don't know if you can provide us any kind of I know the same store sales were down in the first quarter, but so far here in the second quarter, don't if you could talk about what traffic patterns are looking like or average checks are looking like across the franchises. Speaker 200:27:04Yeah, mean, you're seeing I mean, you are seeing differences by segment in terms of, like, burgers versus wings versus snacks. We're seeing very modest decline in in sales and traffic for the cookies and ice cream and and pretzels and stuff like that. You're seeing it in more standard, you know, industry level declines for burgers and some of the wings brands, but you're also seeing, you know, pizza do pretty well. And so we're we're pleased to see how how well pizza's held up and and continuing. I mean, it's it's for most of the time either flat or slightly positive or slightly negative, but it's it's done really well as well as the snacks. Speaker 400:27:49Great. Thanks. I'll get back in queue. Speaker 200:27:52Thank you, Joe. Operator00:27:56The next question comes from the line of Roger Lipton with Lipton Financial Services. Please proceed. Speaker 500:28:01Yes, hi Andy, hi Ken. Thanks for taking my question. Most of the items I wanted to touch on, hold this up, my other phone rang, have been referred to already. But I wanted to ask you, can you give us an estimate of the year to year Smoky Bones negative impact in the quarter? Trying to reconcile the decline in year to year adjusted EBITDA. Speaker 500:28:31My suspicion is that Smoky Bones did more poorly this year than last. Is there any estimate you can provide? Speaker 200:28:41Yeah, mean it's a couple million dollars, you know, a couple million dollars a quarter. It it's a lot. Speaker 500:28:48Right. Okay. Speaker 300:28:51I mean, Speaker 200:28:51you have you have depreciation. You have actual operating decline, so you have both of things to, you know, run through whichever you're you're looking at. And so the faster we can convert, the source we're going to convert the better and we're very focused on that. Speaker 500:29:03Right. Yeah. No doubt. Speaker 200:29:07Just in the overall scheme of things, when you have rates remaining as high as they are and you have construction costs up as much as they are and then you have tariffs that you're importing equipment that might be affected by tariffs and what have you. You just end up having development slow down a little bit. It's not going away, but it slows down a little bit. And so, you know, you can your franchisees are your partners. You want them to to build new stores at an efficient price and and program, but, you know, either apprehensive, they're, you know, dragging their feet a little bit to make sure they could get a better price on this or a better price on that or, you know and then some regions, you've got, you know, construction where it's hard to find the right contractor that's available because he's busy on something else. Speaker 200:29:53And, you know, just all that stuff's going on, I think I think it's making new store development just go a little bit slower than we would like but it's understandable and it's not that it's not gonna happen, it's just taking a little longer. Speaker 500:30:05Right, understood. And do you have any idea how long it's gonna take to find a new full time CEO to take the place with Joe Hummel? How is that going? Speaker 200:30:16Yeah, executive search is going very well. We have a number of excellent candidates and I don't think it'll take very long. Okay. And lastly Certainly within this quarter. Okay. Speaker 500:30:30That'll be productive. In in the supplemental material, talk about one of the one you show as one of your priorities, dollars 10,000,000 of additional adjusted EBITDA from new stores and $5,000,000 from the factory. What kind of timeframe are you thinking about in terms of that incremental 15,000,000 of adjusted EBITDA? A year, two years? I mean, you don't specify the timetable? Speaker 200:30:59Well, there are I think over the next couple years is more than reasonable for both of those things. Yeah, because we have so many new stores opening and we have this incremental growth at the factory, you know, over the next twenty four months for sure, that'll that'll show up. Speaker 500:31:13Okay. Alright. That's it. That's that's helpful. Thanks very much. Speaker 200:31:16You bet. Thank you. Operator00:31:20Thank you. This concludes the question and answer session. And I would like to turn the call back over to Andy Wiederhorn for closing remarks. Speaker 200:31:27Great. Thank you, everyone. I'd love to direct your attention to the Twin Peaks earnings call that is going on as we speak. Just started a couple minutes ago, and that contact information is in the earnings release for Twin Peaks. Operator, this concludes today's call. Operator00:31:45Thank you. This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.Read morePowered by